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Americans hold keys to London’s hospitals for the rich and famous

Andrew Clark

June 10 2013, 1:01am, The Times

Claudia Schiffer, with her husband Matthew Vaughn, at the Portland HospitalStephen Hird

Offering private rooms, gourmet food and impeccable discretion, London’s private hospitals attract wealthy patients from around the world — yet a single American multinational controls the lion’s share of the capital’s medical industry, according to the Competition Commission.

HCA, a Wall Street-listed company based in Tennessee, accounts for more than half of the private hospital beds and treatment rooms in London, including many addresses along Harley Street, and has been accused of seeking deals with medical insurers that “lock out” competitors.

According to the commission, HCA has 55 per cent of overnight beds, 47 per cent of operating theatres, 56 per cent of consulting rooms and 72 per cent of intensive care facilities for non-NHS treatment in London, a proportion that the authority deems “a…